I am starting to have paranoid delusions.

I bought TI to use with Vista, because it was claimed to be Vista compatable.

I started noticing quite a few bug reports on this forum, and so I uninstalled (without using it) and have refrained from re-installing it until I felt better about it.

...but I continue to see nothing but more and more problems, even with non-Vista installs, like XP.

Then it occurred to me that a lot of people never really do have to restore a corrupted system, and the software instructions, requirements, and procedures are sufficiently convoluted that any "glitch" in the process can always be blamed on some oddball hardware, odd setup, or lack of user knowledge. One could go for years with the illusion of "security" without ever actually having to use the product to fix a corrupted sytem. This would give Acronis "plausible deniability" to market a product that is filled with bugs, but cannot be proven to be an outright swindle. Most people would just get disgusted, rebuild their system from scratch, and buy some other software.

...just a paranoid thought.

So help me. Is there anyone who has actually been using Acronis TI for years, and has done some sytem restores and it actually works as advertized ? Is it just the VISTA version that makes things very risky ?

I bought TI to use with Vista, because it was claimed to be Vista compatable.

I started noticing quite a few bug reports on this forum, and so I uninstalled (without using it) and have refrained from re-installing it until I felt better about it.

...but I continue to see nothing but more and more problems, even with non-Vista installs, like XP.

Then it occurred to me that a lot of people never really do have to restore a corrupted system, and the software instructions, requirements, and procedures are sufficiently convoluted that any "glitch" in the process can always be blamed on some oddball hardware, odd setup, or lack of user knowledge. One could go for years with the illusion of "security" without ever actually having to use the product to fix a corrupted sytem. This would give Acronis "plausible deniability" to market a product that is filled with bugs, but cannot be proven to be an outright swindle. Most people would just get disgusted, rebuild their system from scratch, and buy some other software.

...just a paranoid thought.

So help me. Is there anyone who has actually been using Acronis TI for years, and has done some sytem restores and it actually works as advertized ? Is it just the VISTA version that makes things very risky ?

Has anybody really wrung the Vista version out successfully ?

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Well you said it yourself. perhaps you really are paranoid .
The only way to prove out any backup method is to install it and then test it on your own equipment. Reading about other peoples real or imaginary problems is no way to make progress if it is stopping you from even trying!
The only way I know to do a test in complete safety, which is very necessary for all us paranoids, is to restore a complete image backup to a SPARE HARD DRIVE.
Doing things that way you not only prove that it works on your kit but you also have created a second copy of your original hard drive in the safest possible way.

I agree with Xpilot. Work with TI and see if it works on your system. Once you get comfortable with it and how it works and know that it works, you won't have to worry about "other people's" problems.

I have TI installed on Vista and have used it successfully to backup and restore my Vista partition. I have use TI to backup/restore my XP partitions a number of times (not including dozens of XP/Vista tests). I have also used TI to backup/restore my Linux partitions.

Sure, depending on the way the system is setup, there might be "bumps" during the process. Get a spare drive you can use to test and go through the entire process just as if your original drive failed. Make notes if you need to. Check all needed backup possiblities: external USB, network backup, etc. If the rescue cd doesn't work properly on you system, create a BartPE cd and try that.

You may have to use Vista's (or XP's) repair option after a restore (again this depends on you system setup). So have the XP CD/Vista DVD ready and get familiar with how the repair works (it only takes a few seconds).

The bottom line is, don't be scared any from developing a tested & verified backup solution for your computer. When you need it, you'll know all the steps and should be able to have your system up and running in short order.

I have used TI since version 7 and done many restores on many systems. It has always worked for me.

On Vista, I backed up my system to a USB 2 drive and then restored the backup to a different hard drive just as Xpilot described. I discovered that the restored image needed a Vista repair to boot. That was because I had not imaged the entire drive but only the C (boot) partition.

I wiped the drive to restore it to new condition and restored an image of my entire Vista hard drive to it. It booted and ran perfectly.

Being paranoid isn't bad unless it immobilizes you. At this point, you have no backup. Running TI is better than doing nothing. Testing a restore to another drive is the best way to be positive that the restore will work. However, verifying the backup archive, and mounting and exploring it are good proof that the backup was successful if you do these after booting from the TI Recovery CD.

I have never had a restore fail when the entire hard drive (all partitions) was backed up and the image verified from the TI Recovery CD.

Remember, the people who come to this forum are the ones who have a problem. If everything worked perfectly, why would they bother coming here? So, we deal with people with hardware problems or operator error problems and try to get things working for them.

The only way to prove out any backup method is to install it and then test it on your own equipment.

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uhhhh....but imagine the heartache if one tries it and it DOESN'T restore properly. THen what ?

Being paranoid isn't bad unless it immobilizes you. At this point, you have no backup.

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Well, I have my Windows recovery partition; my windows recovery disks, and my "Windows Backup". I also have all my significant data files just manually copied in two locations: one extra hard disk and DVDs.

So I DO have "backup", but it would be a lot more convenient to just have the entire disk imaged somewhere periodically.

I have been using Acronis True Image Home 10 for about six months with Windows XP. I find the partition image backup and restore to be reliable and I have used it several times to restore my C: drive. Cloning has worked in my tests too.

File backup is a different story. I have found file backup to be so unreliable--backups often fail with various errors--that I do not use file backup and use other products instead. I do rely on ATIH 10 for image backups though.

Ask Acronis Sales. j/k I don't use Vista myself, removed it from my new HP. I've been using ATI for a long time and am very satisfied with it. I don't see them offering an edition for Vista that doesn't work. If there are problems, I am sure they will fix them.

I STARTED with their most recent build: 4942. It is dated March 12, 2007
It does not work.
It is still the build shown as the latest on their website as of today: 9/19/08
Note also that my original post on this subject is from back in April. There may have been some "bug fixes" prior to that, but the product still never worked.
So my statements are correct and accurate.

So, the correct statement should be 'there were no new builds with bug fixes after your purchase'. Here is the difference.

I think that developers just switched to the new product at some point.

Back to the topic - ATI 10.0 working for me (some successful restores). To be honest I'm using XP and have not tried Vista (I believe that Vista needs some fixes to be useful). ATI should work with Vista in general. If you have some issues with it then the best idea is to contact support and see that they can do for you.

I am using TI since version 7.0, and it has always worked.
I did numerous restore under XP and Vista with TI 10 Home, from external USB HDD, or from network. The only one thing which bugged one time was "activating startup recovery manager", requiring me to manually fix the MBR by booting on my Windows CD.

The only one thing which bugged one time was "activating startup recovery manager", requiring me to manually fix the MBR by booting on my Windows CD.

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Most VISTA machines come with VISTA preloaded. We don't get a CD.

I know, I know....there are ways around it.
But if I am willing to go to all these lengths to work around the inadequacies of ATI, then I might just as well save myself all the trouble to begin with by not depending on ATI at all.